The present invention is generally directed to toner compositions and processes thereof. More specifically, the present invention is directed to toner compositions and processes for forming an extended gamut of custom colors by dry blending a mixture of selected color toners, and thereafter developing the mixed toner particles to form color images which embody substantially all the PANTONE.RTM. colors.
In embodiments of the present invention there are provided high quality custom color gamut processes wherein the color gamut refers to a range of colors that an imaging system can generate. One way of quantifying the color gamut is in terms of the number of PANTONE.RTM. colors that the imaging device can produce. For example, there are 1,000 standard PANTONE.RTM. colors used in the graphic arts and about half of them can be produced by a typical four-color printing process, and the remainder are outside of its color gamut. The process of the present invention in embodiments thereof involves the use of two or more toners from a selected primary set of twelve toners to achieve custom colors not otherwise attainable without the specific toner combinations disclosed and illustrated herein. The present process can produce substantially all of the image colors that are contained in the PANTONE.RTM. color space, of about 972 colors.
The process of the present invention in embodiments thereof involves the use of one or more, that is mixtures, of dry developer colors, such as orange, red, purple, violet, blue, green, and transparent white, that is an unpigmented or clear resin liquid toner, in addition to cyan, magenta, yellow, and black process colors to achieve substantially complete PANTONE.RTM. color gamut expansion. The present invention provides substantially complete color gamut expansion or access using mixtures of a comparatively small number of custom color inks, for example, from about 9 to about 12 colors, and can achieve from about 85 to about 100 percent of the known PANTONE.RTM. color space, and which color gamut can be achieved with a color difference of developed images, or .DELTA.E, of from about 0.1 to about 5.0 CIELAB units compared to a target color. The compositions and processes of the present invention are useful in many electrostatographic applications, for example, in xerographic printers and copiers, and the like xerographic marking devices.
By blending any one or more of the primary set of twelve toners in a specified formulation, virtually all of the PANTONE.RTM. colors can be matched. The primary set of toners includes but is not limited to a black toner made from Carbon Black such as Regal 330 or similar pigment, a transparent or colorless white toner made in accordance with the other toners with the exception that it contains no pigment or is pigment free, a yellow toner made with PY 17 or similar pigment, an orange toner made from PO 34 or similar pigment, a magenta toner made with PR 81:2 or similar pigment, a purple toner made with PV 1 or similar pigment, a violet toner made with PV 23 or similar pigment, a blue toner made from PB 61 or similar pigment, a cyan toner made from PB 15:3 or similar pigment, and a green toner made from PG 7 or similar pigment, a red toner made from PR 57:1 or similar pigment, and a red toner made from PR 53:1 or similar pigment.
In embodiments, the yellow toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Yellow 17 such as Paliotol Yellow from BASF, the orange toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Orange 34 such as Irgalite Orange F2G from Ciba Geigy, the red toner pigments can be, for example Pigment Red 53:1 such as Lithol Red from BASF and Pigment Red 57:1 such as Lithol Rubine from BASF, the magenta toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Red 81:2 such as Fanal Pink D4830 from BASF, the purple toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Violet 1 such as Fanal Violet from BASF, the violet toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Violet 23 such as Sunfast Violet 23 from Sun Chemical, the blue toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Blue 61 such as Alkali Blue from BASF, the cyan toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Blue 15:3 such as Heliogen Blue from BASF, the green toner pigment can be, for example, Pigment Green 7 such as Sunfast Green 7 from Sun Chemical, the black toner pigment can be, for example, carbon black, such as REGAL 330 carbon black from Cabot, and the colorless toner or clear white toner is pigment free. It is readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned pigments can include pigments that are similar to or equivalents thereof.
The compositions and processes of the present invention are useful in many electrostatographic applications, for example, in xerographic printers and copiers, include high quality color applications.